Final Word from Monday, November 30, 2015
TOP 09 was founded in 2009 on the principles of Tradition (Tradice), Responsibility (Odpovědnost) and Prosperity (Prosperita). It was most successful in the area of tradition, at least in the sense that it quickly came to be seen as one of the core political parties. For its second coming in 2015, it's revising its priorities to stress Democracy (Demokracie), Europe (Evropa) and Business/Entrepreneurship (Podnikání). As presented by new Chairman Miroslav Kalousek (though not quite so succinctly), the idea is more democracy, more Europe and less oligarchal-style business. It's a needed political message, but it comes up against two strong obstacles. First, Czechs are tired of hearing about oligarchs. And second, Kalousek is the wrong messenger. He can't effectively fight oligarchs like Andrej Babiš and Daniel Křetínský without explaining in simple terms how he and the other traditional political parties helped to create them. [Czech Republic party congress]
Glossary of difficult words
core - related to an important or unchanging group of people forming the central part of a larger body;
succinct - briefly and clearly expressed.